Sunday

I can tell it's blisteringly cold outside by the horses across the street. When they're all huddled up together in whatever spot of sun's nearest the barn, I know it's about twenty degrees. If they are letting the mule stand with them, there's dramatic wind-chill factor happening, too. The mercury's only poked up above freezing once since we arrived here last week. Today the mule has been really close to the horses. The wind-chill has been a cozy, sunlit twelve-ish, and just lately that wind has been filled with little sparkling crystals from Friday's snowfall. Today the sky is clear; a good thing because we get up early tomorrow and drive to our new home in Falls Church, about six miles outside DC (see the Oakwood complex here, though we won't know which unit is ours until we arrive tomorrow evening). I'll miss hanging out at the farm, but I'm really looking forward to hitting an urban area. As cold as it has been here, it's often difficult to motivate myself into going outside where most of the neat things to be done are. It's been difficult to motivate to town, too, since that's a half-hour away. The capital area represents an opportunity to go see movies, eat spicy ethnic cuisine, and look at world-renowned objects of art. The same is true here in Kentucky when there is a little less ice in the air. Here's an example of the fine art in the yard, taken back before Christmas when it was warmer. All indications point to an easy eight-hour trip to the DC metropolitan area tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed against new accumulation between now and then. Loaded down, bitter-cold driving is just fine as long as we aren't crawling along at twenty mph over highway ice. [Cavin]